S.Korean stocks, won recover after China eases foreign investment curbs

Jin Air Co

29/06/2018 07:30

* KOSPI index rallies, foreigners buy
    * Korean won edges up against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields rise
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TV1B3

    SEOUL, June 29 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  and the won gained on
Friday on eased trade spat between China and the major economies
after China decided to improve market access for foreign
investors. The Korean won and bond yields also rose.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TU4UA
 
** At 06:32 GMT, the KOSPI was up 11.89 points or 0.51 percent
at 2,326.13, after hitting the lowest intraday level since May
2017. The benchmark stock index fell 4 percent on a monthly
basis.
    
** Samsung BioLogics  207940.KS  closed up nearly 2 percent. It
gained as much as 4.8 percent on the market's open after Biogen
 BIIB.O  said on Thursday it exercised its call option to
purchase more shares of a joint venture with Samsung BioLogics.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TV00E

** South Korea on Friday delayed a decision on whether to cancel
the aviation business license of budget airline Jin Air
 272450.KS , an affiliate of Korean Air Lines  003490.KS , given
the "grave impact" the cancellation will have on the airline
industry. The Vice Transport Minister said a license
cancellation "is very rare" worldwide, and added the ministry
will hold a hearing and listen to the views of stakeholders.
Reflecting the uncertainty of the issue, shares of Jin Air fell
as much as 3.5 percent during the day, while those of Korean Air
Lines rose 4.4 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TU1XI

** South Korea's cement producers jumped after the inter-Korean
road cooperation talks came to an agreement on Thursday, which
includes modernising and connecting cross-border roads. Hyundai
Cement  006390.KS  surged 26.6 percent, marking its biggest
percentage gain since June 11, while Korea Cement  198440.KQ 
gained 15.1 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TV09A
 
** The won was quoted at 1,114.5 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.87 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,124.2. For the month, the currency jumped
3.4 percent against U.S. dollar, marking its biggest monthly
gain since Oct 2016.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,113.8 per
U.S. dollar, up 0.6 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,097.65 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 1.35 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.15 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 6.2 percent so far this year, and
down by 6.54 percent in the previous 30 days.
 
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28 percent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won. 
 
** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 389,705,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 887, the number of advancing shares was 470.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 165,101 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 4.42 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 and low is 1,125.17 on June 27.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.04 points to 108.02.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.133 percent, higher than the previous
day's 2.11 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))